Today, I am thankful for your willingness to adopt, foster, and support rescue organizations. This year, GaPundit.com readers have donated more than $2000, which led directly to at least six puppies being saved from euthanasia. Several dogs are being fostered or have been adopted. I also am thankful for the volunteers who work to rescue dogs and cats and who are working to change our state so that we no longer lead the nation in euthanasia of shelter animals.

Daniels said he was inspired to lose about 200 pounds by realizing how much he wanted to live a long life with his best friend. He and Maggie were married two months ago.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever told her straight on, but I felt like I had a real reason to live and planned to be long living, something that made me happy, and something that made me happy was motivation to, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get myself in shape,’” Daniels said.

He spoke as Maggie Daniels looked on in his new law office at the Burke Lasseter firm in Warner Robins, which hired him as a part-timer this year and then made him a full-time associate partner. He also graduated from law school and passed the bar this year.

It’s been a busy year for Daniels, 26. The newlyweds and Maggie’s family plan to join together for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, when she won’t be working a nursing shift. Ron Daniels said her family has long been drawing him in.

The new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that both the number and rate of abortions fell 5 percent in 2009, the most recent statistics available from most states.

The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.

Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent, but the figures essentially leveled off for a few of those years.

By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.

Some cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That’s up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.

Georgians could be paying an additional $1.35 a month for the next several years, if the project is approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission. The approximate 1 percent increase would be included in “AGL pass-through” surcharges on a monthly natural gas bill. The GPSC is not expected to rule on the project until early next year.

That surcharge would cover replacing about 756 miles of the older pipe, installed before 1974, to start the project, the company said. The so-called “vintage” pipe has a tendency to crack more frequently compared with other types of newer plastic, according to findings from the gas industry and federal regulators.

“We’ve identified the worst-performing pipe that needs to come out on an accelerated basis,” said David Weaver, AGL’s vice president of regulatory affairs.